FINAL: THE BEST OF 2007

Here is my final breakdown for the entire year (2007). Best to worst. I still have two pending full reviews to post: THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (**** and my #1 film of the year) and THERE WILL BE BLOOD (**** and my #3 of the year). I also plan on doing a year in review piece, highlighting the top 20 in brief form, and will also start posting my best guesses at this year's Academy Awards. But for now, here's my list:

1. Julian Schnabel’s THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
2. Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
3. Paul Thomas Anderson’s THERE WILL BE BLOOD
4. Joel & Ethan Coen’s NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
5. David Fincher’s ZODIAC
6. Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD
7. Ridley Scott’s AMERICAN GANGSTER
8. David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES
9. Sidney Lumet’s BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
10. Tim Burton’s SWEENEY TODD

11. Susanne Bier’s THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
12. Tony Gilroy’s MICHAEL CLAYTON
13. Peter Berg’s THE KINGDOM
14. Zack Snyder’s 300
15. Paul Greengrass’ THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
16. Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS
17. Jimmy Mangold’s 3:10 TO YUMA
18. Judd Apatow’s KNOCKED UP
19. John Carney’s ONCE
20. Werner Herzog’s RESCUE DAWN

21. Joe Wright’s ATONEMENT
22. Tamara Jenkins’ THE SAVAGES
23. Brad Bird’s RATATOUILLE
24. Sarah Polley’s AWAY FROM HER
25. Mike Nichols’ CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR
26. Billy Ray’s BREACH
27. Jason Reitman’s JUNO
28. Ben Affleck’s GONE BABY GONE
29. Todd Haynes’ I’M NOT THERE
30. Kevin Lima’s ENCHANTED

31. Gore Verbinski’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END
32. James Gray’s WE OWN THE NIGHT
33. Dan Klores’ CRAZY LOVE
34. Charles Ferguson’s NO END IN SIGHT
35. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 WEEKS LATER
36. Gavin Hood’s RENDITION
37. Paul Haggis’ IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
38. Jake Kasdan’s THE TV SET
39. Peter Hedges’ DAN IN REAL LIFE
40. Michael Moore’s SICKO

41. Wes Anderson’s THE DARJEELING LIMITED
42. Joe Carnahan’s SMOKIN’ ACES
43. Bong Joon-ho’s THE HOST
44. David Silverman’s THE SIMPSONS: THE MOVIE
45. Adrienne Shelly’s WAITRESS
46. DJ Caruso’s DISTURBIA
47. Steven Soderbergh’s OCEANS 13
48. Craig Brewer’s BLACK SNAKE MOAN
49. William Friedkin’s BUG
50. David Von Ancken’s SERAPHIM FALLS

51. Mike Binder’s REIGN OVER ME
52. Marc Forster’s THE KITE RUNNER
53. Danny Boyle’s SUNSHINE
54. Zoe Cassavettes’ BROKEN ENGLISH
55. Michael Davis’ SHOOT ‘EM UP
56. Scott Frank’s THE LOOKOUT
57. Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION
58. Michael Winterbottom’s A MIGHTY HEART
59. Terry George’s RESERVATION ROAD
60. Franics Lawrence’s I AM LEGEND

61. Richard Kelly’s SOUTHLAND TALES
62. Brian De Palma’s REDACTED
63. Mikael Hafstrom’s 1408
64. Greg Mottola’s SUPERBAD
65. Mark Polish’s THE ASTRONAUT FARMER
66. Will Speck & Josh Gordon’s BLADES OF GLORY
67. Jonathan Kasdan’s IN THE LAND OF WOMEN
68. Luc Besson’s ANGEL-A
69. Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini’s THE NANNY DIARIES
70. Nick Cassavettes’ ALPHA DOG

71. Antoine Fuqua’s SHOOTER
72. Curtis Hanson’s LUCKY YOU
73. Gregory Hoblit’s FRACTURE
74. Robert Zemeckis’ BEOWULF (IMAX 3-D)
75. Edgar Wright’s HOT FUZZ
76. Nimrod Attal’s VACANCY
77. Akiva Schaffer’s HOT ROD
78. Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez’s GRINDHOUSE
79. Bruce Evans’ MR. BROOKS
80. Sam Raimi’s SPIDERMAN 3

81. Len Wiseman’s LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
82. Walt Becker’s WILD HOGS
83. James Foley’s PERFECT STRANGER
84. Joel Schumacher’s THE NUMBER 23
85. Dave Meyer’s THE HITCHER
86. Ken Kwapis’ LICENSE TO WED
87. Adam Shankman’s HAIRSPRAY
88. Dennis Dugan’s I KNOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
89. Marcus Nispel’s PATHFINDER